76,359, which is (calculators out) 2412 words today.

I feel every one of them right now. Tired, brain melting.

It’s definitely going to take more than 80,000 to wrap this up, which puts all my math into question. The only thing I know is that we are talking finite amounts of time, just as the words themselves start to stretch out into possibly infinite directions.

That’s hyperbole, of course, but still. Things are not wrapping themselves up all that quickly. Fun things are happening, though. I’m finally getting to some scenes I’ve imagined for a long time, and that’s both exhilarating (to have come this far) and nerve-wracking (to get them right). I’m also getting to play with some of the stuff I just figured out were going to happen last week, so that helps. I try not to think about the plot too much when I’m not actively writing. It seems to deaden the scene for me. I would never ever outline. (For this book, for a while, I was doing a sort of after-the-fact outline so I could keep track of what happened when. I finally figured out that that wasn’t at all helpful. Haven’t looked at it once since I picked up the thread again.)

Writing with Mary Anne in Oak Park tomorrow, going shopping with Meghan on Saturday, getting job offer on Monday. I’d like to say I’m going to keep writing for a while, but I always say that, and it almost never happens. Once I post here, the clock stops. This is me, punching my card.

I know one thing: Today was fun. I was planning on going shopping on my own after I did my thousand words, but then I was at 1100 and things were going well. Too well to stop. It took me hours to get the 1000 down, but then the next hour I almost doubled my goal. Weird how when it works, it works. Today’s lesson, courtesy of writer Ron Carlson: Stay in the room.

The other fun thing I got to do today was spend some time in the north woods. It was a pleasure.